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The degree of collusion between the ACS
and the chemical industry became clear to Marty Koughan, a public
television producer,
in 1993, when he was working on a documentary about pesticide
dangers to children for PBS's Frontline. Koughan's investigation
relied heavily on "Pesticides in the Diet of Children," an
embargoed, groundbreaking report from the National Academy of
Sciences. The report declared the nation's food supply "inadequately
protected" from cancer-causing pesticides and a significant
threat to children's health.
Shortly before Koughan's program was scheduled
to air, a draft of the script was leaked to Porter-Novelli, a
high-powered PR firm
for produce growers and the agrichemical industry. In true Washington
fashion, Porter-Novelli plays both sides of the fence, representing
not only government agencies but also the industries they regulate.
Its 1993 client list included DuPont, Monsanto, American Petroleum
Institute, and Hoffman-LaRoche—as well as the USDA and
the NCI. Porter-Novelli has also done pro bono work for the ACS
for
years.
First crafting a rebuttal to help manufacturers
soothe public fears about pesticide-contaminated food, Porter-Novelli
then
faxed a
copy to ACS headquarters in Atlanta. The rebuttal was emailed
to 3,000 regional ACS offices to help field viewers' calls
after the
show aired. It read: "The program makes unfounded suggestions … that
pesticide residues in food may be at hazardous levels. Its use
of 'cancer cluster' leukemia case reports and non-specific community
illnesses as alleged evidence of pesticide effects in people is
unfortunate. We know of no community cancer clusters which have
been shown to be anything other than chance grouping of cases and
none in which pesticide use was confirmed as the cause."
This unabashed defense of the pesticide
industry was taken up by the right-wing group Accuracy in Media
in an article called "Junk
Science on PBS." Asking, "Can we afford the Public Broadcasting
Service?" the piece went on to discredit Koughan's documentary: "'In
Our Children's Food' … exemplified what the media have done
to produce these 'popular panics.'"
Koughan was outraged that the ACS was
being used to defend the pesticide industry. "At first, I assumed complete ignorance
on the part of the ACS," said Koughan. But after unsuccessful
efforts to get the national office to rebut the AIM article, Koughan
finally grasped what was happening. "When I realized Porter-Novelli
represented five agrichemical companies, and that the ACS had been
its client for years, it became obvious that the ACS had not been
fooled at all," he said. "They were willing partners
in the deception, and were in fact doing a favor for a friend by
flakking for the agrichemical industry."
Excerpted
from “The High Stakes of Cancer
Prevention” by Samuel Epstein and Liza Gross, Tikkun
Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000
www.Tikkun.org
CONTACT:
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Cancer Prevention Coalition
University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health
2121 W. Taylor St., MC 922
Chicago, IL 60612
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